HRNM Docent & Contributing Writer
I was trying to establish the exact location of Little Bay Beach (1907-1928), the first beach resort owned by and for African-Americans in the Hampton Roads area, which was located on land that became part of Naval Air Station Norfolk during its expansion during the 1930s, when I noticed a photograph of seaplane that crashed into the Willoughby Club near the 7th Street Station on December 13, 1918. Newspapers in the following days revealed that the Curtis H-12 seaplane was one of six returning from an aeronautical performance for the Southern Commercial Congress’ annual meeting in Baltimore when it lost its way. Aircraft maneuvers there included the falling leaf, tail slide, and spinning nose dive; all highly dangerous feats for the twin-engined, wood and canvas bi-winged seaplanes.
This Curtiss H-12 (Bureau Number 767) operating out of NAS Hampton Roads on November 24, 1918, sports nose art featuring a Navy goat, which has been the U.S. Naval Academy's mascot since 1893. (Hampton Roads Naval Museum file) |
Returning to Naval Air Station Hampton Roads from Baltimore, Aircraft 770 piloted by Ensign Roland Palmedo, USNRF (Naval Aviator 188), encountered fog over Hampton Roads and landed in the waters between the roadstead and Chesapeake Bay to get his bearings to the station. Taking off once again, he did not gain enough altitude to clear Willoughby Spit and clipped the roof of the club. Palmedo fractured his leg, his copilot David Thomas was slightly injured, and two of the crewmen, radio operator Thomas V. Jones and machinist's mate Liewellyn W. Alexander, were killed.
In researching the pilot, I found that his son, Philip F. Palmedo, had written a biography of his father entitled Roland Palmedo, A Life of Adventure and Enterprise. The author graciously sent me a copy of the biography.
Ens. Roland Palmedo. (U.S. Militaria Forum) |
The biography on Roland Palmedo also mentioned that he carried airmail, which interested me. Postal histories state that Army pilots carried the first air mail beginning May 15, 1918, but Bruce Linder’s book Tidewater’s Navy contains the passage, “on 16 November 1918, regular air mail service between Hampton Roads and Naval Air Station Anacostia became an important new mission for the naval air station. Every day one plane flew each way.” The Navy for a time had its own air mail service which never became part of the U.S. Postal Service, and that is why it is not mentioned in postal histories.
The Army-Navy Register and Defense Times reported that Lemuel Phillips Padgett, chairman of the House Committee on Naval Affairs, who had heard that sometimes only one letter was carried, asked Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels: “is there any regular mail service maintained by their Navy” Mr. Daniels replied “that the duty of carrying the mail was incidental to the operation of aircraft, and was in connection with naval aerial operations. He said it was very advantageous to have an important air station near at hand to the department, and the trips were made by aviators from Anacostia, to Hampton Roads and other naval air stations, but the matter of carrying mail on those trips was incidental to the more important duty of operating and developing naval aircraft.”
The Army-Navy Register and Defense Times reported that Lemuel Phillips Padgett, chairman of the House Committee on Naval Affairs, who had heard that sometimes only one letter was carried, asked Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels: “is there any regular mail service maintained by their Navy” Mr. Daniels replied “that the duty of carrying the mail was incidental to the operation of aircraft, and was in connection with naval aerial operations. He said it was very advantageous to have an important air station near at hand to the department, and the trips were made by aviators from Anacostia, to Hampton Roads and other naval air stations, but the matter of carrying mail on those trips was incidental to the more important duty of operating and developing naval aircraft.”
After leaving the Navy, Palmedo bought a Stearman biplane and used it to fly to various ski locations long before they became popular with vacationers. (Philip Palmedo) |
After the war, Roland Palmedo went into investment banking, winding
up at Lehman Brothers where he was instrumental in the financial foundations of
several major airlines, serving on the boards of Pan-American and Trans World
Airways (TWA). He continued to fly in his own plane, but it is in the world of
skiing that he made his greatest impact.
He discovered Mt. Mansfield where the ski resort Stowe is now located,
founded of the National Ski Patrol, and was instrumental in creating the
Women’s Ski Team for the 1936 Olympics.
Always dedicated to amateur athletics, he designed the emblem for the
Amateur Ski Club of New York. He created the Mad River Glen Ski Area when he
found Stowe was becoming too commercial.
He rejoined the Navy in WWII, first serving as Flag Aid to Vice Admiral Bellinger, who was by then Commander Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet. Author Ashley Guy Hope wrote “The bon vivant aide to flying Admiral ‘Pat’ Bellinger, Roland Palmedo, deciding the half-dozen admiral's aides in the vicinity should band together, founded the ‘Husbands Afloat, Wives Ashore Aides' Benevolent and Protective Association,’ complete with a set of bylaws.” Roland then served as administrative officer for Carrier Air Group 88 on the aircraft carrier Yorktown (CV 10) during the closing months of the war.
A portrait of Roland Palmedo in his element. (Mad River Glenn) |
More than 58 years after his near-fatal crash on Willoughby Spit and after a long, successful career in finance, guiding the founding of commercial aviation companies that made taking to the skies a staple of American middle class mobility and founding ski resorts and organizations that made taking to the slopes a staple of American middle class recreation, Roland Palmedo died just before his 82nd birthday on March 15, 1977.
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